Daily Five Literacy Rotation

      I introduced math rotations a few weeks ago and it has been going well, so I thought it was time to introduce the reading/writing version. The students handled it so well. They did not want to rotate out of some of the stations, and I might get to the point where we truly do the daily 5 where they can choose how long they spend in a centre but for now, 15-20 minutes is how long each rotation lasts. During the summer I won a management system from the awesome Ashlyn Ellsworth  and I use that to help my students know what station to go to.  There are 4 stations that the students rotate though, and the only one missing is "Listen to Reading". I may add that one in, as we have an awesome app for reading that I want to introduce. 

This is a picture of my rotation boards. Green and orange is math and yellow and teal is reading. You can buy a copy here

So in our rotations we go through: Read to Self, Work on Writing, Word Work, and Read to Someone. We use the acronym R.E.A.D. 

R is: Read to Self

In this station, students read to themselves and fill in a sticky note using a bookmark I adapted from Pinterest. They read and when they come to a part they want to respond to, they draw a symbol on their sticky note and leave it in their book, at the end of the session they put their sticky note into their reading response journal and write a sentence or two about what the sticky note is about. So for example if they draw a heart on their sticky, that means that they liked that part of the story. then in their journals, they write down what they liked. Some of them got it, but we will keep trying.

The E is: Exploring words

In this station students sort their words (we are using Words their Way this year for the first time) and then they do a word activity. In our first rotation we did rainbow words. 

A is for At Your Seat Writing: 

For this station the students were either working on finishing their fractured fairytales, or writing in their free-write journals. (I love how she was writing).

Finally, the D is for Duo Reading or partner reading: 

I have a few bins of books that I have put 2-3 copies of the same book in, and they can choose what books to read with a partner during this station. Eventually I will add in a response element but for now, reading together is our main goal.

I was so proud of how well they did, I can tell that last years teachers did some Daily 5 stuff, and the ones that didn't, those students caught on quickly. I am really enjoying how quickly most of them adapt and just get into the flow of the routines and expectations, and that I can trust that the majority of them are doing what they are supposed to do. It has been a great start to the year! 

Horton Hears a Who!

So we are in the middle of our literacy unit on Dr. Seuss. This week we read, Horton Hears a Who. I found this awesome project on Pinterest and knew that I had to do it! Thanks to Jodi from "Fun in First" for the idea and template, the project was a snap! The kids were super excited about making their own Hortons and I must say they turned out pretty darn cute!

I had the students write a thank you message, as though they were a Who, to thank Horton for saving them. Then they put their Horton together and added a clover (made from a pipe cleaner and a sparkly pom pom). They signed their names and added the surname "Who" for an extra touch of whimsy.

I just love some of the things they wrote!

Student Writing

I love reading students' writing. Here are some gems, the first batch is our "triple scoop words" writing project, the second is our simile project and the last are our rendition of the story, "Never Take A Shark to the Dentist" by Judi Barrett

Fall Writing and Art

This week we made Q-tip trees and we wrote a poem on Fall. It was a cute little project and looks great. I was very happy with some of the words and ideas that the kids shared about what Fall looks like, sounds like, feels like, and smells like and what they love about Fall. They loved the foam and felt stickers I got on sale at Michaels! haha

A Language and Art Activity

Here are two projects we completed this week.

First our "Not a Box" creations based on the book Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

After reading the book, the students chose a pose they liked and used their imagination to turn the box into something that was "not a box"

We also made apple collages, where the kids trace apples onto a paper, overlapping the apples, and then colour in the spaces with pastel. They turned out really nice. Pictures of completed projects to come, but here is one that was in progress.